High speed network connections to residences and small businesses can be used to support different types of traffic, such as voice, video, and data traffic. One technology that has been deployed to provide high speed network connections to residences and small businesses is digital subscriber line (DSL). FIG. 1 depicts an example of a DSL deployment that includes multiple end users 110 connected to a broader communications network 112 via a DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM) 114 and an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch 116. In a DSL network, the end users typically have a modem 118 that is connected, via Ethernet connections 120, to end user communications devices 122, 124, and 126 such as computers, telephones, televisions, etc. For communications from an end user to the communications network, the DSL modem takes Ethernet frames from the end user communications devices and transmits the Ethernet frames to the DSLAM using a pre-established user-specific ATM virtual circuit (VC). FIG. 1 depicts three user-specific VCs (VC1, VC2, and VC3) that are specific to end users 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The DSLAM aggregates traffic from the end users and transmits the traffic, within the user-specific VCs, to the ATM switch via an ATM link 128. The ATM switch forwards the traffic to a broader communications network via ATM link 138. The process is basically reversed for traffic that travels from the communications network to the end users.
Current DSL networks are effective for communicating a single type of traffic (i.e., data traffic from web browsing and email) between an end user and a broader communications network. However, DSL networks are not as effective at handling end user traffic that includes different types of media with different quality of service needs. For example, current DSL networks are not as effective at handling traffic that includes a combination of voice, video, and data traffic. As described above and as depicted in FIG. 1, typically a single VC is used to communicate all of the traffic related to a single end user. FIG. 2 is a logical depiction of the three VCs from FIG. 1, where each VC carries a combination of voice, video, and data traffic on ATM link 238. When a single VC is used in an ATM network to communicate different types of traffic for an end user, it is difficult to distinguish between the different types of traffic that are being carried within the VC. Because the different types of traffic within each VC are not easily distinguishable, it is difficult to provide each different traffic type with a level of service that is specific to the needs of the traffic type. As a result, all of the traffic within a VC gets treated the same regardless of its specific needs. Treating all types of traffic within a VC the same can produce poor results, especially for delay sensitive traffic such as voice traffic.
One technique that can be used to provide different levels of service to the different types of traffic in the DSL network of FIG. 1 involves dedicating a unique VC to each different type of traffic that is generated from each end user and then applying different levels of service to each VC. For example, an end user is assigned a first VC for voice traffic, a second VC for video traffic, and a third VC for data traffic, with each VC receiving the appropriate level of service. Although dedicating multiple traffic-specific VCs to each end user enables different levels of service to be provided to different traffic types, it also restricts the scaleability of the DSL network because the number of uniquely identifiable VCs in an ATM network is limited. The number of uniquely identifiable VCs available in a DSL network may be increased by adding additional network hardware, however, this increases the capital cost of the network and ultimately increases the subscription cost to the end users.
In view of the desire for high speed network connections that can be scaled to support multiple end users, what is needed is a method and system that can be deployed within a network that supports different levels of service for different types of traffic without requiring unique VCs for each different type of traffic.